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History is so compelling and gives the reader insight into why the world is like it is........so why bother fictionalizing it? For that reason I avoided historical fiction like the plague. That was before I found Robert Harris and changed my mind or at least about his books. He is the master of convincing you that his additions of fiction to the facts of a particular historic event are true. And he writes in such a way that the fiction does not change the outcome.

This book is set during the time of the Munich Conference and the run-up to WWII. Prime Minister Chamberlain is preparing to meet Hitler to settle the problem of partitioning the Sudetenland to Germany without an invasion of Czechoslovakia. The fictional level of the story is the friendship between a member of Chamberlain's staff and a translator in the Nazi staff to Hitler. The German warns the Englishman that Hitler is pulling a bluff and that this is only the beginning of Germany's plans to absorb Europe into the Reich. He has the proof and is intent on putting it into the hands of Chamberlain at Munich with the help of his friend.

The story describes the game of cat and mouse as the friends attempt to warn Chamberlain but the main thrust of the narrative is centered on the facts of the Munich Conference and paints Chamberlain with a very positive brush even though history has been unkind to him. The premise is neither far-fetched or unbelievable and the author sticks to the facts of the events of Munich. It appealed to me because the sub-plot certainly could have happened and history would not have been changed. Recommended, even for those who do not read historical fiction.